https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy0aCDmgnxg
As for your first point, I would suggest aspiring devs to try to prepare themselves to take part in "game jams". The constraints (including a time constraint) help focus on important parts.
- Say, I know what I want to build exactly where do I start? a.k.a -- What's the equivalent to starting at the DAO / API layer and building the integration later, in the gamedev world?
- I know I'd like to make games, where do I start coding?
I focused a lot in the article about that first question (and only briefly alluded to prototyping, etc.) -- mostly because I was interested in the theoretical question of engineering practices.
Two little books that can help:
1. From A Theory of Fun book blurb:
“A Theory of Fun for Game Design is not your typical how-to book. It features a novel way of teaching interactive designers how to create and improve their designs to incorporate the highest degree of fun. As the book shows, designing for fun is all about making interactive products like games highly entertaining, engaging, and addictive.”
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1932111972/
2. See also The Art of Game Design:
”Over 100 sets of questions, or different lenses, for viewing a game’s design. Written by one of the world's top game designers, this book describes the deepest and most fundamental principles of game design, demonstrating how tactics used in board, card, and athletic games also work in video games. It provides practical instruction on creating world-class games that will be played again and again.“
https://smile.amazon.com/Art-Game-Design-Lenses-Third/dp/113...